But though Fox says "Outnumbered" was designed to “ provide viewers with a fresh take on the latest news,” it didn’t feel fresh. Many of the stories up for discussion were days old and have been covered so relentlessly online and elsewhere that it was like watching a rerun.

Carlson, who described himself as “grievously outnumbered,” was clearly there to court controversy, and he gamely tried to play provocateur with the already overworked topics.

When discussing a study that shows men are more upset by physical cheating while women are more upset by emotional cheating, he commented, “Men are pretty sex-focused, you may have heard,” adding, “I don’t know if it made the papers where you live.”